A restaurant in South Carolina has been accused of reselling Costco pizzas at a 700% markup as 'gourmet Roman-style thin crust pizza'

A restaurant in South Carolina has been accused of reselling Costco pizzas at a 700% markup as 'gourmet Roman-style thin crust pizza'

A restaurant in South Carolina has been accused of reselling Costco pizzas at a 700% markup as 'gourmet Roman-style thin crust pizza'

Diners and employees accused the restaurant of selling $18 to $20 'gourmet' pizzas that were just frozen Costco pizzas that cost around $2.50 each.

www.businessinsider.com

http://archive.is/37MIG

There's nothing unusual about an $18 to $20 gourmet pizza from an upscale wine bar. But there's definitely something unusual about passing off a $2 to $2.50 frozen pizza from Costco as an $18 to $20 gourmet pizza from an upscale wine bar.

That's what may have been happening at Charleston, South Carolina restaurant Coquin, the Post and Courier first reported.

Coquin opened in October 2019 as a neighborhood tapas and wine bar. Since the coronavirus pandemic prompted sweeping restaurant shutdowns, Coquin, like many other restaurants, has pivoted to delivery. Grimalda told the Post and Courier that he hasn't had to lay off any employees yet, saying the staff is "all kind of busting our butts" to get by.

But this week, diners and Coquin employees tipped off the Post and Courier, saying the $18 to $20 pizzas that Coquin was selling for delivery were actually just frozen Costco pizzas.

Coquin started selling the pizzas on its website last weekend, marketing them on the restaurant's Instagram. The restaurant's owner, Chip Grimalda, says that Coquin has since sold around 20 pizzas a day.


A reporter from the Post and Courier watched Grimalda go from the restaurant to his private apartment after receiving a pizza-delivery order. Grimalda then left to deliver pizzas in boxes marked, "Fresh Pizza, Oven Baked."

The reporter then found four-pack boxes for frozen Costco pizzas in the dumpster outside Coquin. A four-pack of Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza with Breadcrumb Crusts costs around $10, or $2.50 per pizza. The mark-up if sold for $20 each? 700%.

When asked if he was passing off Costco pizza as homemade, Grimalda told the Post and Courier reporter, "I don't know what you're talking about. It's definitely not Costco, and that's all I have to say."

Business Insider has reached out to Coquin for additional comment.

 

[AnOminous]

That said, it really says something about both the quality of the food the restaurant is selling and the kind of the food the previous customers must be used to eating to have not immediately noticed it was shit quality frozen pizza

It didn't take long. The place only opened in October.

A general rule is if there's anything you're doing in your business that would ruin you if a disgruntled employee revealed it, a disgruntled employee is guaranteed to do exactly that the moment you disgruntle them.

 

[Y2K Baby]

Fuck consoomers. Long live pizza grift.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

We had something similar to this in Korea a year or two ago. A "dessert speciality" bakery in a small town got caught using Costco bakery goods. It wasn't until they started getting rather famous that some people started connecting the dots.

Amy's Baking Company from Kitchen Nightmares was doing this as well.

 

[Antipathy]

This is why you cook your own goddamn food.

 

[Bill The Fucker]

Lol, there's like a dozen good pizza places in Charleston. Why the fuck would you pay so much for such a shitty, small pizza?

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

Lol, there's like a dozen good pizza places in Charleston. Why the fuck would you pay so much for such a shitty, small pizza?

because it is gourmet!

 

[X Prime]

Gourmet Food in general is a scam.

Didn't someone sell off chicken nuggets as gourmet foods and the exceptional critics bought the lie?

I cannot say "this" loud enough.

People who buy into gourmet food are, the vast majority of the time, paying for the dopamine hit from being able to afford exorbitant prices. It's all psychological past a certain point.

It's actually the same thing from organic food. There's very little to no actual health benefits, it's all about the fact you have the money to afford it in the first place.

 

[Orion Balls]

Isn't it cheaper to just make them yourself? Pizza places have some of the best markups ever. It's just flour, yeast, sugar and salt, then you can charge extra for the toppings...

Agreed. If you have more than 12% food cost percentage at a pizza shop, you're doing it wrong.

E- standard markup at a single location restaurant is 300%, or whatever you can get away with in your area. Your pasta entrees will be marked up higher than your steak. But around 300% allows a place to keep running.

 

[ColtWalker1847]

How is this any different than the heat-and-serve entrees and sides most hack restaurants get from Food Services of America?

You think they make that chicken fettuccine in house? Lol, no. That's boil-in-a-bag stuff.

 

[mindlessobserver]

If you are running your restaurant right, the cost of a large 18" Pizza in ingredients shouldn't be more then 3 bucks anyway. I mean, what is it? Flour, water, yeast, some oil, some tomato, and a thin layer of cheese. Pizza has some of the highest markeup in the biz. There is a reason practically every non-chain store has one. This just smacks of being lazy and not knowing what you are doing.

 

[Sped Xing]

This is why you cook your own goddamn food.

No, this is why I have a Costco membership

 

[Y2K Baby]

No, this is why I have a Costco membership

Lol, gay.

 

[Dr. Henry Armitage]

This reminds me of the time back in 1998 when some dumbass restaurant manager in cultus lake spent nearly an hour trying to convince me that the 'sausage' from the sausage, bacon and eggs breakfast I ordered was 'gourmet sausage' when it was blatantly clear it was half cooked low end hotdogs. Even had the obvious hotdog shape and texture. The manager was freaking out that someone noticed (still don't know how anyone else didn't, it was fucking obvious) because they were selling them to tourists in rather large numbers and charging premium prices.

tldr: in the end I flat out refused to pay for it on the basis that if hes lying about something so obviously then what else were they fucking with in regards to what I ordered, or anything else they sold there. He was stupid enough to threaten to call the cops over it until being asked what he intended to tell them when they got there and saw the scam they were trying to pull for themselves. Might mean getting the health department involved to look into what they were doing. That shut him up in a hurry....which in retrospect should probably have been a red flag for the rest of the food in itself

That said, it really says something about both the quality of the food the restaurant is selling and the kind of the food the previous customers must be used to eating to have not immediately noticed it was shit quality frozen pizza

Prime example of why I make my own pizza if I want it. I highly recommend a crust made from a mix of sourdough and rye with some added lard to give it a nice chewy texture

Reminds me of an Italian restaurant that opened near me. I decided to go there for lunch one day. I ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce, a pretty basic dish. When I got it it was swimming in water the "sauce" was just canned tomatoes and hamburger with no seasonings what so ever. I asked to see the manager and told him I wasn't paying for spaghetti with meat sauce and getting spaghetti topped with unseasoned beef and canned tomatoes. I could go to the store and make this for about a dollar. He tried to convince me it was meat sauce. While I pulled out the huge chunks of tomato swimming in water and pointed out it had no seasonings at all. He eventually offered to replace it and I told nah man if this is what you do for a basic dish I don't wanna try something more complex.

 

[Y2K Baby]

I asked to see the manager

Literal Karen.

 

[Linako 2.0]

Patented Skinner Pizzas, old family recipe!

 

[Xarpho]

Agreed. If you have more than 12% food cost percentage at a pizza shop, you're doing it wrong.

E- standard markup at a single location restaurant is 300%, or whatever you can get away with in your area. Your pasta entrees will be marked up higher than your steak. But around 300% allows a place to keep running.

The biggest rip-offs include soup, with a tiny cup of boiled meats and vegetables being as high as anything else on the menu, with the soup basically being a "boil-in-bag" item made by a plant miles away.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Reminds me of an Italian restaurant that opened near me. I decided to go there for lunch one day. I ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce, a pretty basic dish. When I got it it was swimming in water the "sauce" was just canned tomatoes and hamburger with no seasonings what so ever. I asked to see the manager and told him I wasn't paying for spaghetti with meat sauce and getting spaghetti topped with unseasoned beef and canned tomatoes. I could go to the store and make this for about a dollar. He tried to convince me it was meat sauce. While I pulled out the huge chunks of tomato swimming in water and pointed out it had no seasonings at all. He eventually offered to replace it and I told nah man if this is what you do for a basic dish I don't wanna try something more complex.

Reminds of another Italian place I went too. On the menu was seafood fettuccini. What came out? Spaghetti topped with some mussels and those tiny shrimp you would see in a seafood salad/pizza. Was not a happy camper. Didnt say anything but I also never went back.

I can understand minor shenanigans as cost saving measures. If the food still tastes great and is what the menu advertised i really dont give a shit. If you use thai or chinese shrimp as opposed to the vastly more expensive Louisiana shrimp then whatever. Just dont promise me Louisiana and give me Thai.

Or in the case of an Italian restaurant, dont promise me fettucini and give me spaghetti. Just wtf are you doing mister owner?

 

[JULAY]

It didn't take long. The place only opened in October.

A general rule is if there's anything you're doing in your business that would ruin you if a disgruntled employee revealed it, a disgruntled employee is guaranteed to do exactly that the moment you disgruntle them.

The key is to keep your employees relatively gruntled. Paying them well usually helps, as does free booze.

 

[whatever I feel like]

Amy's Baking Company from Kitchen Nightmares was doing this as well.

Did they ever get a thread? Because they should have.

 

[Trig.Point]

A general rule is if there's anything you're doing in your business that would ruin you if a disgruntled employee revealed it, a disgruntled employee is guaranteed to do exactly that the moment you disgruntle them.

Yes if you're going to do shit like this, you need to be a family run and operated restaurant.

That said the restaurant probably would have been able to source cheaper frozen Pizza from a catering supplier... I think what fucked them was just having the Costco label on a package.